How'd you feel about the "lack" of music?

Poll: How'd you feel about the "lack" of music? (287 votes)

I like'd the emptiness, it felt restrained/clean/etc. 63%

I wasn't a fan of the emptiness, it wasn't memorable/catchy/etc. 21%

I haven't played Zelda BotW 7%

Results 9%

Watching Dan and Alex teach PunchOut to Abby, and they talked a bit at the end about best soundtracks of the year. They echoed a sentiment that I feel like I've heard a bunch this year, that Zelda didn't have good music so much as good sound design. They talked about not having enough memorable tunes and some other stuff, but I thought the game's music was really smartly arranged and tonally consistent with the story (lonely/sad without being dark and gloomy).

I can't remember a single note of music from the game, but I remember it being well suited whenever it was used. Can't really hold it against the game since it worked, but being unmemorable is a pretty big strike in my book.

I'd have a hard time giving best score to a game with as spare a music score as Zelda, but I don't think they made the wrong choice when they made the game, either. The music is wonderful where they use it, and it dynamically moves in and out of songs depending on the situation you're in. All the locales have their own nice theme, too, as well as different enemy types. It could use maybe a bit more of their famous leitmotifs here and there, that's all, like how Skyrim would use that super memorable night theme. They did the right type of music for a game where you wander in the wilds for hours, searching for the mysteries of the past.

It was one of my favourite aspects of the game. Felt it accentuated the mood of the game when you heard those few notes as you came across something interesting, or the terror that came with the music of the Guardians. I think it went with the melancholy of the game.

I literally can't remember a single song from this game. It's not even a situation where the rare use of music serves to accentuate the sensation when a song does kick up. I'm drawing a complete blank. Utterly unmemorable.

I think it fit the game well, since the appearance of music often meant something was happening in the game and marked an act of discovery (like finding a giant Talus or whatever). On the other hand I do like catchy 'traditional' Zelda music. In the end, though, I think they wanted to break with recent Zelda tradition in a lot of ways, and having the soundtrack just be of a different kind was one of them. If you glided off the plateau and the familiar main Zelda theme came up it wouldn't have felt like exploring such a strange and mysterious world.

I think that having the soundtrack they have kept the focus on the mystery and the exploration, and that's what the game did best, so it was the right decision.

In general people who really like Breath of the Wild (and it's one of my favorite games of all time) tend to like how the game was different from prior Zeldas and played with the Zelda tropes and traditions in interesting ways. People who wanted more adherence to the traditional structure liked the game less. I suspect feelings about the music trend the same way.

You spend like 90% of the game in the open world, and this game is incredibly long. Having an overarching theme playing throughout the entire thing would have driven me insane. They made the right decision to abstain from going as heavy as they usually do with the music. It's there when it needs to be, but it's not like other Zelda games. Just like how almost everything else is not like other Zelda games. It's not like it's devoid of memorable music, either. Hateno Village (day or night) and Tarrey Town are fuckin' incredible pieces.

Also, that Hyrule Castle track, indoors and outdoors, is one of the best songs in the entire franchise. So there's that. The actual BotW theme song that plays in the trailer and in the final boss fight is also great.

I loved it. That main piano riff gently slowly coming in while exploring. It's my favorite music of the year, but I also haven't played Nier or Persona which seem like their soundtracks have a lot of fans.

I didn't like the emptiness of the music in the open world, and I was forced to lavish every drop of aural delicasy each time a short ambient tune would play. Although, the areas that DID have music (stables, towns, Hyrule Castle) regularly looped in the background were very well done (except Korok Woods, whose background music didn't seem to fit the theme of the area. It was too fast paced and upbeat.).

At first, I was taken aback by all the silence. But the light music that hit here and there made it feel like trekking through a wondrous (but desolate) world. Made it easy to get lost in it. For such a lengthy adventure, it felt nice to not be bombarded but constant amazing themes.

But the themes here were super strong. A lot of the actual songs had some stand out moments.

I think the power of silence is often overlooked, and BotW really tapped into that. Its more minimalist, ambient music did a great job at really supplementing your journey, rather than overshadowing it, and I thought it accentuated the tone and mood of the world around you super effectively. And then the moments where there was no music really let me get absorbed in that place, since I could really hear the wind, or a stream, or whatever other noises the world was making. I've rarely felt so connected to a word and the sound design was a big part of that. A loud, epic overworld theme would have made this a very different game. I enjoyed the quieter, more contemplative tone.

@kmj2318: Glad someone posted this! Terry Town alone, with it's progression along the quest adding in instruments from all the cultures you bring to the town, is one of the best uses of soundtrack I can think of in recent memory. Also that song is catchy as hell!

All the villages have amazing music come to think of it. The Dragon Roost Island re purpose for the rito town is also amazing.

Out in the field I loved the sounds of nature taking the fore with meandering piano striking up at seemingly the perfect moments. Gave me chills several times.

Nights in Ocarina were also quiet, and it did a lot to flesh out the environments by presenting the same space with a different vibe. So it's not a new technique to the series, but it's taken to the next level in BOTW.

In the places where the music is minimal what little there is has an early 20th-century feel to it, which is completely up my alley. I can see that being a YMMV factor, because it's not a style from any other Zelda game and not at all what you'd expect out of a new Zelda score. I wouldn't mind if it became a calling card of future games though.

You spend like 90% of the game in the open world, and this game is incredibly long. Having an overarching theme playing throughout the entire thing would have driven me insane. o great.

100% agree with this. Enough is done in the open world from keeping it silent. There are so many incredible tracks in this game that are used, personally the music played when you are attacking Vah Ruta is my favorite :

Huh, I don't agree with that it's silent/empty at all, quite the opposite, this is probably my favorite soundtrack of the year. It's subdued and certainly minimalist, but it's always there, and it's used to great effect to give you subtle environmental hints.

I have a hard time thinking of other games in recent years other than full on rhythm games where the music was so heavily integrated into the game.

I do definitely miss the general feel of audio from past Zeldas in this one so I voted that way, but I really did enjoy the soundtrack in BoTW for what it is. I think almost all of the tracks are fantastic - the only one that I actively dislike is the ambient music that plays when you are in snowy mountains.

I loved the music in towns and villages, but I feel that most of it will be forgotten years down the line, whereas I can hum tunes from OoT, MM, WW, and even TP to a lesser extent with no issue on demand - they are just that ingrained into my memory. Maybe this game will get there too when I play it again, hard to say.

"How do you feel about the music" works perfectly fine for thread about the music in Breath of the Wild. Because there is great music in the game, despite what a lot of confused people all over the Internet thinks.

The occasional tinkle of a piano was more affecting than having a persistent soundtrack. Like Dark Souls, they got benefits from having a sparing soundtrack that came in for big events.

Also, being this giant game with tons to do, the paucity of music made it feel more natural for me to toss on some podcasts. I listened to half the entire run of My Favorite Murder while collecting golden poop seeds.

The music is stunning but the part of the main theme at 1:04 is absolutely the first thing I think of when I see the game. It’s so evocative of the feeling of cresting a mountain you’ve been climbing for like 10 minutes and seeing that vast expanse. The music & how sparingly it’s used is part of what makes the game special. The game has a pretty unique ebbing and flowing structure of action and the ebb and flow of the music mirrors it.

I was disappointed by the silent nature of the soundtrack. I am playing Link Between Worlds now, as I also play BotW again (played for a bit on Wii U and now playing on Switch) and the difference is very obvious. LBW perhaps has the soundtrack be too obvious, however I still find the often silence of BotW worse. I understand their reasoning behind it in BotW but I wish they made the music a bit more pronounced. I like most of the songs I have heard in BotW but just wish there was more of an emphasis on it and more of an emphasis on utilizing some of the classic sounds of the series. I think it is an important distinction to consider, that you can consider the soundtrack quite good but believe it wasn't implemented well.

I thought the music that was there was quite tonally appropriate, especially in how despondent it sounded, and I liked the choice to not have music for large swathes of the game. That said, I went to the Symphony of the Goddess this year and they had a piece for BotW that I thought was somewhat underwhelming probably due to the lack of music choice from the game.

I remember the song from the trailer and that's it. The rest is completely forgettable and that's a bummer. There is a way to do subtle, toned down music that's not overpowering while still being very memorable. Skyrim did it perfectly

I"m mixed. In general I like sound direction, but I do think it could of used more oomph at times and isn't all that great. The fact that the trailer was more exciting than anything I found in the game was disappointing.